Anatomy & Biomechanics: Mastering the Basics for Coaching Crossfit

I have a question for you…Which coach would you rather be?

The one that everyone overlooks their expertise and just expects them to be there to explain the workout and track their time.

Or the one that the members (and even the other coaches) seek out to ask questions and get movement advice from.

Seems pretty obvious, huh?

From heavy reps in the deep squat, to high reps in an exaggerated overhead position, as seen in any kipping movement, and all of this to be done while under a large layer of fatigue?

Yeah… CrossFit is one of the most mobility-demanding fitness methodologies in the world, guaranteed.

As a Crossfit Coach there isn’t a single day that you’ll go to work and not be presented with something that challenges your eye for movement mechanics.

Not only that, but due to the nature of the training methodology, there will also often be pain or discomfort within movements as well, and whether you like it or not, you’re responsible for helping to find a way to overcome it.

When it comes to the common patterns (squat, front rack, overhead, etc.), a Crossfit coach that can quickly grasp the biomechanics involved is one that will understand movement better than 99% of other coaches in the industry.

This isn’t just a vanity metric, it’s far more important than that…

If you understand movement to that degree, you will naturally foster an immediate trust in your members that is rarely seen.

Once they trust you at that level, you have a much larger influence on their actions in and out of the gym.

This helps you have a direct impact on their happiness, their health, and their quality of life.

Your knowledge on movement isn’t just about standing out as an obvious expert in your field (although that also comes with the package), it’s also about your impact..

And the kicker? This is all related to the topic that most coaches completely disregard and avoid like the plague.

Anatomy & Biomechanics…

It’s funny, the topic itself can be dry as hell…like you’re reading from an old school textbook that still has some tears in the pages.

But if you are presented the topic of anatomy & biomechanics in a way that is highly related to what you love doing (ie. if the information is broken down into specific movements or positions that you love to coach), then it becomes far more interesting and enjoyable to digest/implement.

Now, I’m not going to tell you what to do, but what I will say is this; if you take your career seriously (and I’m assuming you do since you’re still here reading this…those that don’t have already moved on…cheers!) and want to be recognized in this field, you have to do what you can to stand out in a highly valuable way…

There’s no way around it.

In this article I want to scrape over the concept of increasing your knowledge of anatomy & biomechanics, and learning how the reframe your perspective to be able to apply it to any and every movement pattern you see on a daily basis,, so that you can start to truly understand how to influence your member’s technique, pain, recovery, and overall performance.

Let’s dive in!

Reframing the Perspective of Anatomy & Biomechanics for Crossfit Coaches

As a CrossFit coach, how many times have you experienced any of the following:

• A shallow squat (at or above parallel)

• Shoulder, knee, hip, or low back pain
• Tight overhead position

Probably a lot, huh?

The thing is, most coaches will address any of the following as such:

• Stretch out the hips with some variation of pigeon stretch, couch stretch, or frog stretch

• Foam roll the nearest muscle group to where the pain is located
• Attach a band to the rig and yank the shoulders into any direction that elicits a stretch (usually to target the lats, which has some base logic, but I cringe when I see coaches doing this to improve the overhead position and don’t even target…the overhead position)

While these things can certainly help (and do have their place), applying them without any understanding as to how, why, or when they should be used is about as effective as a chocolate tea cup.

As I’m nearing my 10,000th hour invested into the application of biomechanics and helping over 6,000 athletes with their pain and movement patterns, I’m seeing more and more how powerful it is to dissect the particular position or pattern that is problematic down into the isolated biomechanics involved.

Once we’ve dissected the pattern, we will have a small list of joint functions that are working collaboratively together to create the overall movement.

Example:

The Overhead Position:

• Shoulder flexion
• Shoulder external rotation
• Scapular upward rotation
• Thoracic extension

Once we have this list, we can better understand what exactly is at the root of the symptom being experienced, whether that's poor movement or pain.

Now that we know the main joint functions that are responsible for playing a role in the particular position or pattern that we are looking to improve, we can address them independently with a strength-based approach.

Here’s the 6-step sequence of this approach:

1. Acknowledge the symptoms (muscle tightness, joint pain, poor movement mechanics, etc.)
2. Acknowledge the particular pattern or position that is related to the symptom (at what point does the symptom present itself)
3. Break down the pattern or position into its list of joint functions
4. Isolate those joint functions with a strength-based approach
5. Reintegrate the pattern or position in training to reintroduce the stimulus
6. Repeat as needed

This is how we apply anatomy & biomechanics to our role as a coach.

When we break it down like this, it starts to make the topic pretty cool, huh?

A topic that might normally feel daunting, dry, and boring as hell, is now highly related to the work we love and starts to spike our curiosity.

The more you practice this skill set, the better you become at it too.

Once you’re able to do this on the fly, while watching your athletes move right in front of you, you’ll be able to figure out their movement problems immediately and offer a solution that actually gets them results.

The best part is, if the solution to the problem is something that will take weeks to correct (improving the quality of a biomechanical function of a joint), you’ll still understand the issue at such a fundamental level that you’ll also have ways to reduce the symptom right away.

This knowledge will help you offer better scaling advice, better movement cues, create better mobility programs, help your athletes feel more powerful under the bar (because you’ll get them into ideal positions for their specific body structure), and help them recover much faster.

This is where you foster trust from your members, and start to close the gap between being an average coach and a world-class coach.

This is where you start to master your craft.

Applying Your Knowledge of Anatomy & Biomechanics: A Guide for Coaches

Now that you are starting to understand the 6-step process to addressing movement compensations and pain that we chatted about above, we can start to make an effort to simplify it even further, and help you grasp this concept once and for all.

I get it…the main challenge with this 6-step sucker is that it’s challenging to know what joint functions are involved in the first place.

Sure, that could pose a problem, but if you’re creative and willing to dig in, it doesn’t have to.

In the beginning it will take you more time to discover these things (but that’s one big part of the learning curve, don’t shy away from it…practice!).

Start By Exposing the Position Itself

To start you can simply address the overall pattern/position itself by exposing your athlete to it and applying a stimulus.

For example, if you want to improve an athlete's front rack position, you can load up a heavy barbell, get them into their ideal front rack position, and have them perform prolonged holds for multiple sets.

Ex:
Front Rack Holds - 3 x 30 sec @ 90% of 1RM Front Squat

This won’t be as effective, but it will certainly help you learn more about the process of isolating the particular joint functions involved and how they need to be implemented.

This approach is essentially skipping steps 1-4 and jumping directly to the reintegration phase.

Nothing wrong with that, but it limits your ability to understand the true root of the issue, which will reduce your effectiveness.

Just remember that this is all a game of learning and implementing. It’s fine to start here, but work your way up to applying the 6-step process.

Then Dive Into the 6-Step Process

 Once you’ve got the hang of reframing your perspective, you can start to address the independent biomechanical functions of the particular joint you are targeting.

Again, at first this will feel confusing and challenging to do, but it’s worth the effort.

Remember that THIS is mobility training at its finest.

You’ll want to be sure to go beyond just basic stretching, and instead bring in a process that is going to instill strength (if you want to start diving deeper into this specific concept, I’ll leave you a link below to dive into our Free course - The Strength-Based Mobility Blueprint - so that you can start to learn the 5 pillar process we use)

If you’re new to the concept of training for isolated biomechanics in a strength-based manner, it can feel confusing as to how you would even start to approach that to begin with.

Here is a quick demonstration of how you can take any function of any joint, and turn it from a basic stretch into a strength focused exercise.

This is a classic Static Pigeon Stretch. Feel free to watch this video to see how I would coach this to someone in order to get the absolute best bang for their buck

And here is how we would transform it in the effort to build strength.

Both of which are targeting the hips in deep external rotation, both of which are lengthening the glutes, but only the latter will drive an influence into how the nervous system responds to this joint position.

So, for this we used a classic pigeon stretch as our example, but this concept can be used for any joint function.

Here is one more strength-based example for shoulder flexion. Where most coaches will take a band, attach it to a rig, and have it pull the athlete into a deep stretch, this is an active variation of this.

This approach forces your athlete to actively engage their muscles within the deeper ranges of motion, rather than just being pulling into those positions to elicit a stretch.

The difference they will feel in their movement from one approach to the next is paramount.

Not only will they feel like they can access the deeper ranges, they’ll also feel as though they are more capable of managing stress within them as well.

How Primal Mobility Can Enhance Your Knowledge and Confidence

At Primal Mobility, our obsession is to guide Crossfit coaches to stand out as an obvious expert in their field through the knowledge and application of mobility training in combination with movement patterns.

The fact that you made it this far through this article is a clear sign that you are meant for great things within the coaching space.

You are someone who takes your coaching practice seriously, and wants to continue to find ways to grow and master your craft.

I respect that! 

To help you dive deeper, I want to give you access to our free course - The Strength-Based Mobility Blueprint - so that you can start to learn the 5 pillar process to structure a mobility protocol in a way that will have your members feeling pain-free and moving like butter.

Just click here to get instant access!

Now, if you’re a beast and know that you don’t want to just scratch the surface, but to go all the way in and get certified as a strength-based mobility specialist…

If you want to have a deeper knowledge on movement mechanics, joint function, and mobility training than 99% of the coaches in the industry…

If you want to take a course and leave feeling like you just bypassed years in university..

You have to check out the Primal Mobility Certification.

It’s like absolutely nothing else that you’ve experienced before. 

Register here and I’ll see you in the PMC community!

And remember,

Lean in, master the craft, and separate from the pack.

Let’s go!